Life, Leadership, and Football

Seriously. I love learning. I wish I could say I have always been that way, but to be completely honest, I haven't. I was always very good at playing the game of "school," but I never had a genuine love for learning as I grew up. I was driven to do well by my desire to please my parents, my teachers, and my coaches, and I knew that if I wanted to "be successful" in life I had to "do well in school." I had what Dr. Carol Dweck would call a very "fixed mindset," and it stuck with me all the way through my college years. I was a good student, but I focused on achieving, not learning. I hated reading with a passion. Again, I was good at it (maybe just "good enough"), but I hated it. Being a double major in history and psychology was not good for someone who hated reading, but I managed to survive. Thankfully, I had a few professors who were masterful presenters that could keep my attention, and I had the motivation of my football coac...

I love John Wooden. His ideas have shaped my thinking as a teacher and coach more than anyone else. I believe he got more out of his athletes than probably any other coach ever has (and he had the championships to back that up). His teams worked hard, but he also did things differently than most coaches were doing at the time. He knew that there was more to it than hard work.  Hard work is not enough. That may come as a shock to some people, but it's the truth. Often times, we falsely tell ourselves (and others) that if we just work hard enough, we will be successful. However, that isn't necessarily true.  We tell our football players all the time that hard work is not enough. Right now, every football program in Texas (that's worth a darn) is working extremely hard. Every one of them is going through a grueling off-season. Young men are lifting and running like their lives depend on it. How then can some teams pull to the front of the pack if everyone else...